Is Anyone Else Going to have a No Presents Christmas?

septemberblues

silvercharming wrote: »

Tesuhoha, where abouts are you? I have a tree, decorations and other bits and bobs I'd like to give you if you're close enough. PM where you are and I'll see if you're close enough, then OH can drive down.

Aaahh, reading this bought a tear to my eye! What a lovely thing to say :A

smartandshrewd

Last Christmas I told my family that I was no longer buying gifts for adults as I was broke and it was the easiest, most relaxing Christmas ever!

The only difficulty I've had is that I still feel under pressure to buy for my niece and nephew. My nephew is 7 and has always had a present and, although not spoilt in any way, now 'expects' something. My niece is 1 and she has a new sister on the way too, and TBH if I wasn't buying for my nephew I wouldn't buy for the girls IYSWIM.

shlozzy_2

I have a big family, but budgets are hit hard this year, so we are all saying a token gift is all we should get each other.
Some of us are better off, but we have limited it to a fiver a pressie for each.
We will still get together and enjoy the buffet on christmas day, so all remaining food is equally shared if anyone wants it to take home, so less waste. We all share in the cost on the day and try to use minimal cars to transport the family to/from my sisters house for the gathering.
A great day for the sake of it and no quibbles on the pressies - thats what i like about it.

frasersmum123

What a lovely thread, I really feel that Christmas is overrated, the build-up starts earlier every year.

I have three children, so have bought presents for them, mainly practical ones like clothes, dressing gowns and books. My eldest who is 7 was taken to see Santa by my MIL, he told him he wanted an encyclopedia and a watch, I have picked up both for less than £15, so he will be very happy.

I have bought cheap(but nice looking) frames for family members from Wilko and have managed to get some lovely pictures of my children which I have printed for less than £4 for the whole lot. We have all talked about just buying token pressies, but these more personal pressies are much better IMO.

Its much more about spending time with the people that you love.

Merlot

I'm reading this thread with interest too, feeling really fed up as I was in a major city yesterday on a training course and it seemed everyone had tons and tons of shopping bags and dressed in the latest fashions, I came home cause I felt out of it, I no longer have any debt due to this site, but I'm still feeling really really fed up cause I will not get myself into debt to buy myself anything, my husband says I have gone to far on the non spending, but he is in the building industry and I dread the day he comes home and tells me he is out of work.

Merlot.x.

Burlesque_Babe

How about some volunteering on the morning of Christmas Day? Salvation Army, soup kitchen, singing on the wards of a hospital (contact the hospital chaplain). It won't cost anything and you will have the opportunity to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas - togetherness.

You'd then have a lovely meal and afternoon/evening together.

JES_F1

tesuhoha wrote: »

Because my husband has just lost his job and our priority is the mortgage and all the bills, we have agreed as a family not to buy any presents at all. Neither will we have decorations, a tree or anything else. We will have a Christmas dinner but that's all. It seems ridiculous to me to spend money that we have not got just because of a winter festival.

I think that we can still have a good time.

So excuse me for being Scrooge, but does anyone else feel this way?

Sorry to hear about your husband's job.

I think there's far too much pressure put on people to spend lots of money on food, presents, and goodness knows what else.

We're having presents, a few decorations, and a yummy meal, but keeping it very low key. Fortunately, I have a small family and a small but close group of friends - and have never competed or put pressure on one another to provide the *best* presents. One friend and I are going to go out for a festive meal (hopefully 2-for-1 somewhere!) rather than exchange gifts.

Even before I had my lightbulb moment and discovered the wonders of MSE, adverts for CDs, DVDs, and books as stocking fillers made me mad! I've always been delighted with any of these as a *main* present!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas meal with your family and can enjoy the day.

mizzy2

taxi73 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your OH losing his job.We are sort of having a present free christmas as in yes people are getting presents but they have all been bought out of vouchers earnt from surveys and points.
We are not having a christmas dinner as I will work the day and DH will work the night so it will be whatever we have in.
I agree though that it's harder when you have young children.
I'm sure you will still enjoy it as you won't have all the added pressure.There will be loads of families all in the same situation I guess.

Im doing the same thing, I have got all my xmas presents for people from amazon with dooyoo vouchers. i havent spent 1p apart from maybe on my electric but sometimes I use the computers at uni.
Maybe if people are on the internet anyway they could get on dooyoo and get some presents like dvds for writing some reviews.

tinkerbell84

I never have decorations, and I don't give or receive presents. I don't send cards, nor do I do a mad dash to see relatives that couldn't give a stuff at any other time of year. What a waste of time, stress and money!

I'm not religious, I don't believe in the religious festival, and I have no need for the tat that people buy you just because it's xmas.

So I'm with you all the way! And I promise you'll enjoy it just as much this way

meerkat2007

My mother is elderly and lives with me - we haven't done presents for a few years now.

In the wider family, we agreed a few years ago not to do presents, only cards, except for the four children of my two first cousins - kids who we never see, as they live in other parts of the country, and who we wouldn't know from a hole in the road, but we sent money for Christmas and birthdays to all of them. I don't have kids, so it cost my cousins nothing.

The oldest of these kids hit 18 about 2 and a half years ago, so we sent double the amount for his 18th, having decided that once the kids got to 18 we would give them a double birthday present to recognise the significance of the birthday, and then that would be it - no more birthday or Christmas money, as they would be adults and perfectly capable of supporting themselves.

However, when we only sent a money Christmas present for his sister, his mother got all huffy with us and stopped sending Christmas and birthday cards, so my mother and I sat down and had a talk about it - we decided not to send any more money to any of the kids as we couldn't really afford it. My mum has her pension, and while I have a reasonably good salary, I don't often get a pay rise and when I do, it's miserly, and I have a ton of debt to get rid of.

So now, it's Christmas cards to friends and neighbours, and those members of the family who haven't taken umbrage at our lack of largesse. Instead, my mother and I spend a little more on a nice Christmas dinner as a treat, and spend quality time with each other and with our two little dogs.

The decorations are ones we've had for years - we have a matching pair of "candles" made from tinsel-like material that were the pride and joy of my maternal grandmother, and she passed away over 26 years ago, but these decorations are still like new. There are others that aren't quite as old, but are getting there - again, they are in excellent condition, so why buy more?